Reaction Paper: How To Write
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If you look at the very name of the paper, you might understand it should be about your reaction on something. In fact, you need to write an analysis of some piece of information, for example an article. If you are a newbie, you should learn how to write a reaction paper because it requires a student decent researching. This skill will be helpful in the future.
Pre-Writing
- First of all, you have to understand why you need to write a reaction paper. In general, you are going to read a text, think it over, and then write down what you feel about it. You should point out what is good and what is bad in the text and whether it is complete, that is the purpose of the text is achieved.
- You do not decided to write a reaction paper. Your teacher wants you to do. And you have to know exactly what the teacher would like to see in your paper. It may be a personal reaction, subjective opinion, or a thorough analysis.
- Do not postpone writing. The thing is that you have to read a text and think it over. And for that you need some time. It would be best to get reading right after you receive an assignment.
- Thoughts will appear when you read. Note them. Write down everything that comes to your mind. Do not bother whether it will be suitable. You have to put every thought on a paper.
- Make annotations when reading. They will help you out later when you start writing a paper. Just important details that the reader should pay attention to.
- You can evaluate a text while you are reading it. You should ask questions, for instance, what is the main point? what issues are arisen? what arguments does an author use?
Drafting
- The first step of writing is easiest. You just have to share your opinion without thinking how it will look, what you should mention, and what may be missed. When all thoughts are already on paper, you should look through and pick the most important argument of your viewpoint.
- Remember that your paper has to be critical. You analyze and evaluate. No summary is allowed. No one wants to read the retelling.
- One of the main points of your paper is a thesis statement. When you decided how you would like to present your analysis, you can form a thesis now. It should show what you are going to analyze and criticize.
- Organization is a must. The reaction paper has the same structure as the essay. You should already know that an essay consists of an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. So when you are writing a reaction paper, you need to present all those parts. Also, you should pay attention to the paragraph structure when you write another argument. Every paragraph is a new idea. So many ideas you have, so many paragraphs you write.
Writing
- An introduction is called so to introduce. In your reaction paper, you are going to introduce an author of an article you have read and have something to say about it. So you tell the reader what an article is about, who an author is, and what they researched.
- When you are done with writing paragraphs, you should read them again. In fact, a reaction paper does not require your opinion. It does your critical analysis. So be critical. And remove subjectivity.
- The last step is always rereading, editing, and proofreading. Everyone would like to have a perfect paper. To get that, you have to spend some time even when you have already written your paper. And only after that you can say th reaction paper is done.